Trust me when I tell you that your $1 million can dry up faster than you think if you're not wise with how you use it. 

4 dogs is excessive and will cause a lot of wear and tear on the building, you'll need that $800. 

People think they are saving money, but they are consuming time that has value well in excess of the money they save. 

Still, it shouldn't take much more than 4 weeks to get dried in.

If you're very cash flow positive and a HELOC won't turn your cash cow dry, then tapping the equity to invest elsewhere for positive cash flow wouldn't be a bad thing.If you are just breaking even or only slightly cash flow positive, a HELOC, when tapped, will put you in the red. 

Eventually that well dried up and back to general construction I went.

So it might seem excessive, but for many it is worth it.

Just wondering if I’m missing something here or doing something wrong because it doesn’t seem to be so cut and dry on putting a rental property into an LLC.

Another factor may be you have more dry powder than deal-flow.

Excessive pin-prick holes will do it.